Scorpion sold 160,000 traditional albums in its debut week, but these were digital downloads only because the physical CD doesn't drop until this Friday July 13. Counting in track equivalents and album equivalents online, it moved 732,000 equivalent albums — the biggest week in 2018 for any album release.

drake set the new record for largest streaming week by putting up 745.9 million US streams...compare this with the previous recordholder 'beerbongs & bentleys' which recorded 431.3 million 😳 https://t.co/q20x6gkj1m

On-demand audio streams from Scorpion topped 745 million, another No. 1 of all-time statistic, surpassing the 431 million streams in Post Malone's late April debut for Beerbongs & Bentleys. Globally, on-demand streams passed 1 billion — a first-ever record for any album.

Among the top 10 weeks for on-demand audio streams, Drake's 2016 album Views was bumped down to No. 7, ever, with 245 million. His 2017 More Life release is at No. 3 with 384 million, for its debut, as well as at No. 7 with 253 million in its second week on sale. We'll see what the physical CD's release does to Drake's numbers next week.

The musical messages in the 61st GRAMMY Awards Best Rap Performance category examine life from many angles. Cardi B's romantic warning "Be Careful" lets potential partners know their love should be consistent, or else.

Meanwhile, in "Nice For What," Drake doubts assurances of support once it's time to come through.

Finally, Anderson .Paak's "Bubblin" celebrates a fountain of cash and its implications for living, and Travis Scott, along with Drake, Big Hawk and Swae Lee, takes us into "Sicko Mode": another dimension of playing for keeps.

Polls

Who Do You Think Voters Will Pick For Best Rap Performance?

Choices

Cardi B, "Be Careful"

Drake, "Nice For What"

Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, Future & James Blake, "King's Dead"

Anderson .Paak, "Bubblin"

Travis Scott, Drake, Big Hawk & Swae Lee, "Sicko Mode"

Who do you think GRAMMY voters will choose for Best Rap Performance at the 61st GRAMMY Awards? Vote and tune to CBS Feb. 10 to see if voters agreed with your pick.

Voting is open either online via TeenChoice.com or by Twitter hashtag, one per Tweet by pairing a name with #ChoiceMaleArtist or #ChoiceFemaleArtist. The limit on enthusiasm is 10 votes per day, per category, for each platform user ID, a wrinkle some multiplatform fans are likely to use effectively. Among other things, for the musical artists, this really is a chance for their fan bases to show their love.

Drake Reveals Upcoming Release Date For New Album, 'Scorpion'

Fresh off of dethroning himself from the No. 1 slot atop the Billboard Hot 100, replacing his own single "God's Plan" with the smash hit "Nice For What," and becoming just the 13th artist in history to replace their own No. 1 single atop the chart, GRAMMY-winning rapper Drake has begun to drop hints about his forthcoming fifth album Scorpion.

Celebrating his chart win, Drake hopped on Instagram on Monday to drop some good news for all the fans who've been patiently waiting for the Toronto native's next official LP release sing 2016's quadruple-platinum-certified Views.

A post shared by champagnepapi (@champagnepapi) on Apr 16, 2018 at 11:37am PDT

While the pair of IG posts, both captioned "JUNE 2018," are the first tease of the album's title and release date, Drake did drop some additional hints during his appearance at a Toronto Raptors game in March, telling the hometown crowd at halftime, "I love each and every one of you …I’m happy to be home. I’m working on this new album for the city."

Details on the specific date in June when Scorpion will drop are still forthcoming.

After performing at the XS Nightclub on Jan. 10, Drake, who won his fourth GRAMMY award when "God's Plan" won Best Rap Song at the 61st GRAMMY Awards, enthusiastically Instagram-ed the message "new home." "I'll be back here at XS all year," Drake called out during the set. "You'll have a lotta chances to see me."

While the first two are coming in May, the subsequent three are not yet announced, and Wynn Las Vegas wants it understood that Drake's performances in its medium-size venue are about more than their rumored $2-million-apiece price tag.

"This can't just be about a show, about dates on a calendar," said XS Executive Vice President and Managing Partner of Nightlife Alex Cordova. "It has to be more important." Rather than a "residency," both XS and Drake's team are viewing the additional dates as a "partnership" presenting up-close-and-personal experiences impossible in an arena. "This is more about how we bring Drake into the concept of Wynn Las Vegas," he said.

Tickets are available at the XS Nightclub's website. 360-degree virtual tours of XS Nightclub and its Encore Beach Club surroundings are also available, but Cordova said plans are afoot to modify the medium-size stage environment for Drake's May performances. Cordova believes the venue's creative collaboration with Drake will lead to more artists seeking residency-plus relationships with Las Vegas venues in the future.

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